The Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010 was announced on Tuesday morning. 1995 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Dan Harrington and eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel will be enshrined during a ceremony on November 8th at the Rio in Las Vegas.
Harrington received four of this author’s ten Poker Hall of Fame votes. His back-to-back runs in the 2003 and 2004 Main Events coupled with his victory in 1995 and indelible marks on poker literature earned him one of the two Poker Hall of Fame spots up for grabs. All told, Harrington has reached the final table of the Main Event four times and followed up his victory in 1995 with a 17th place finish one year later.
Seidel may best be remembered for his runner-up finish to Johnny Chan in the 1988 WSOP Main Event, his first cash in a WSOP contest. The tournament was depicted in the cult classic “Rounders” and earned Seidel $280,000. Since then, Seidel has won bracelets in Limit Hold’em, Limit Omaha High-Low, No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball, No Limit Hold’em, and Pot Limit Omaha. He finished eighth in last year’s $50,000 HORSE Championship and has over $4 million in career WSOP earnings.
Seidel was elated to become part of the prestigious Poker Hall of Fame, telling WSOP officials in a press release distributed on Tuesday, “I’m very honored to be elected to the Poker Hall of Fame this year and it’s an extra bonus for me to be going in with Dan Harrington. We have played together and have been great friends for my entire poker career. Both of us refined our games at the Mayfair Club in New York. I have such a high regard for the many members of the Poker Hall of Fame that I have played with over the years and it’s a real privilege to be able to join them.”
The induction ceremony is scheduled for 8:00pm PT on November 8th inside the Penn and Teller Theater. Following it, the 2010 WSOP Main Event will play down to a winner. Others considered for the Poker Hall of Fame, but not enshrined this year, were Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, and Scotty Nguyen. This author cast votes for both Johnson and McEvoy as well.
In a recent Guest Column on Poker News Daily, UB.com pro Annie Duke, who bested Seidel in the finals of this year’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship, made a case for her close friend’s enshrinement: “The guy behaves with such grace in a sport where grace is really needed. He’s always so graceful and so sportsmanlike. He’s deeply thoughtful, deeply intelligent, and has massive integrity. This guy should be held up as the standard for what we should be doing. I feel strongly that he should be honored.”
The 16 living members of the Poker Hall of Fame and a 17-man media panel each cast 10 votes to determine this year’s class. Only those receiving a majority vote were eligible and up to two players could be inducted this year. In 2009, World Poker Tour (WPT) host Mike Sexton was the Hall’s lone addition.
Seven players, including Johnny Moss, were inducted as part of the Poker Hall of Fame’s first class in 1979. Since then, the cast has grown to include the likes of Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Johnny Chan, Lyle Berman, Stu Ungar, Jack Binion, Phil Hellmuth, and Chip Reese. The latter is the youngest player in the Poker Hall of Fame, enshrined at age 40. This year marks the first time since 2007 that more than one person will be inducted.